SINGAPORE, 6 OCTOBER 2008 - Finnish phone maker Nokia has decided to call time on its adventures in the enterprise solution business space and focus solely on its devices.
The company has recognised that it is unable to advance into the enterprise market as a standalone mobility solutions provider, said Claudio Castelli, Senior Analyst at Ovum.
Nokia first took the acquisition path to create a comprehensive set of mobile applications. These include tools such as email, voice, device management and mobile access to business back-end systems.
“However, in contrast to its main enterprise rivals, Nokia never had a PBX installed base or a software collaboration footprint. As a result, its direct relationship with enterprises was weak,” said Castelli.
Enterprises expect solutions to embrace open standards and they expect their vendors to partner, allowing them to choose best-of-breed applications without having to worry about interoperability, he said. Nokia has recognized that it is not well placed to play the application integration role and has decided to leave this to its better-qualified partners.
Actions taken
Nokia will halt further development of its Intellisync products and will cease developing or marketing its own behind-the-firewall business mobility solutions. It says it is not abandoning Intellisync altogether, since it will be able to utilise significant parts of the technology for carrier-based messaging products for the consumer market.
Further security product development will be focused on the device, and Nokia has announced that it is in the advanced stages of the sale of its security appliance business to a financial investor.
Instead, Nokia will focus its enterprise activities on its E-Series devices. It aims to build on the success of its E66 and E71 devices and to leverage developments from its consumer devices into its business products.
This will include utilising its consumer market partnerships, as well as building on its Ovi consumer services to support business professionals. Nokia’s enterprise device software assets and expertise are being moved from its Services and Software group into its Devices group to support its objective to develop competitive devices.
Nokia will concentrate its efforts on developing user interfaces for its devices, which will be supported by partners like Microsoft, IBM, Cisco and Alcatel-Lucent, added Castelli. “By focusing its efforts, Nokia will be able to exploit its main strength and is more likely to succeed,” he said.
